Your rights if something is wrong with your car

If you buy a new or used car from a dealer and have problems with it, you have some statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

The Act states the car must be “of a satisfactory quality”, “fit for purpose” and “as described”. (For a used car, “satisfactory quality” takes into account the car’s age and mileage.)

You have a right to reject something faulty and you’re entitled to a full refund within 30 days of purchase in most cases.

After 30 days, you lose the short-term right to reject the goods.

You’ll also have fewer rights, such as only being able to ask for a repair or replacement, or a partial refund.

In fact, you’re legally allowed to return it up to six years after you bought it (in Scotland, it’s five years after you first realised there was a problem).

But it gets more difficult to prove a fault and not normal wear and tear is the cause of any problem.

Just because you didn’t buy your car new, doesn’t mean you don’t have rights if something goes wrong.

You might still have a legal right to compensation. This will depend on:

• when and where you bought it
• what the exact problem is
• whether you knew there was a problem when you bought it. This might be a repair, an amount of money to cover the cost of a repair, or a full or partial refund of the money you spent.

Citizens Advice have a tool that tells you what your consumer rights are. All you need is the date you bought your car and whether it was a private sale or bought through a trade seller.

The vehicle should be of satisfactory quality, fit for its purpose and as described.

With hire purchase, it’s the finance provider, rather than the dealer, who’s legally responsible if there are problems with the car.

If you paid all or part of the cost of your car by credit card, the card company and the trader might be jointly responsible for compensating you under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

Your purchase won’t be covered by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. But you might be able to claim a refund from your debit card provider through a voluntary scheme known as ‘chargeback’.

Visa, MasterCard, Maestro and American Express are among the companies signed up to chargeback.

Depending on the card you used, you’ll probably need to make your claim within 120 days of noticing the problem.

Chargeback claims can take some time to process because the card company has to get the money refunded before they can pass it on to you.

Buying privately is one of the riskiest ways of buying a car. If something goes wrong with it you don’t have as much legal protection as you would if you’d bought the car from a dealer.

The car must match the seller’s description, be roadworthy and the seller must have the legal right to sell it to you.

In other words, the car must work, meet the legal requirements for being driven on public roads, and be owned by the seller.

But you’re responsible for ensuring the car is “of satisfactory quality’’ and “fit for purpose” before you buy it.

Watch out for any unscrupulous sellers pretending to be private owners so they can offload faulty or stolen cars.

With online auctions, your legal rights depend on whether the seller is a private individual or a car dealer.

If the seller is a private individual, the car only needs to be as described – so it’s a case of ‘buyer beware’.

Your legal rights are the same as if you were buying from them in person (see ‘Problems with used cars bought privately’ above).

If the seller is a dealer, you’ll be protected by the Sale of Goods Act if you find the car isn’t of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose or as described.

You will also be covered by Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. This means you’re entitled to cancel the order within 14 days of the original purchase.